North Sydney railway station

North Sydney railway station is located on the North Shore line, serving the Sydney suburb of North Sydney. It is served by Sydney Trains T1 North Shore Line and T9 Northern Line services.

North Sydney
Station front in October 2011
Location	Blue Street, North Sydney
Coordinates	33°30′10″S 151°07′21″E
Owned by	Transport Asset Holding Entity
Operated by	Sydney Trains
Line(s)	North Shore
Distance	4.8 kilometres from Central
Platforms	4 (2 island)
Tracks	4
Connections	Bus
Construction
Structure type	Built over
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Status	Staffed
Station code	NSY
Website	Transport for NSW
History
Opened	20 March 1932
Electrified	Yes
Traffic
Passengers (2018)	67,190 (daily)[1] (Sydney Trains, NSW TrainLink)
Rank	5
Services
Preceding station Sydney Trains Following station Milsons Point toward Emu Plains or Richmond North Shore & Western Line Waverton toward Berowra Milsons Point via Strathfield toward Hornsby Northern Line Waverton toward Gordon Preceding station NSW TrainLink Following station Milsons Point toward Central Central Coast & Newcastle Line (peak hour services) Waverton toward Wyong

History

View of the entrances to the tunnels at the Waverton end, photographed in 1931.

The two pairs of platforms on either side of the roadway at Milsons Point were intended to join up at North Sydney

Concourse

Platforms 1 & 2

North Sydney station opened on 20 March 1932 at the same time as the North Shore line over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.[2] Prior to the bridge's opening, North Shore line trains had diverged from the current line at Waverton to the original Milsons Point station at Lavender Bay.

The station was built in a rock cutting with a street level overhead concourse above the platforms. The station has four platforms which correspond with the four railway tracks that were designed to cross the Sydney Harbour Bridge. At the Waverton end of the station there are four tunnels which have been cut into the rock. Unused tunnel stubs of 260 metres for proposed lines to Newport and Northbridge were cut at the same time with Chief Design Engineer John Bradfield calculating that without these, later construction of these lines would interfere with the North Shore line.[3]

From 1932 until 1958, two of the rail tracks designed for the bridge were used by trams, the latter being diverted onto Blue Street just before they would have entered North Sydney Station. After 1958 the tram tracks were removed from the Sydney Harbour Bridge and replaced by the Cahill Expressway.

Beginning in the 1968 when the North Sydney Travelodge was built, the air rights over the station have progressively been redeveloped.[4] In December 1972, the awning over platforms 3 and 4 was demolished.[5] The station became totally enclosed with the opening of Zurich Insurance House in 1984.[6]

From 4 September 2005 to 28 May 2006 it was the major terminus of the Hornsby via Strathfield line. From 20 October 2013 to 25 November 2017 it was the major terminus for Emu Plains all stops services. Starting from 26 November 2017, North Sydney station is the major terminus of the Richmond Line to allow customers to change for a train.

Upgrade

Between April 2006 and December 2008, the station was upgraded to handle extra traffic expected with the opening of the Epping to Chatswood line in 2009. The work included an expanded concourse and the installation of escalators and lifts.[7]

Platforms and services

The four platforms at North Sydney can have different usages, but the outer platforms are generally the only ones used in off-peak; the middle platforms generally serve terminating trains arriving from the city. Because the four platforms at North Sydney serve a double track railway to the north and south of the station, it has significant capacity for terminating traffic.

The line north through the tunnel from Platform 3 was not laid until 1992 and commissioned in August 1993.[8][9] The tunnel roads serving platforms 2 and 3 both have a 10 km/h speed limit and are occasionally used by passenger services.

Trackplan
Tunnel and middle tracks end just before Waverton station
N↑ To Waverton S↓ To Milsons Point

Platform	Line	Stopping pattern	Notes
1	T1	services to Emu Plains	weekday services to Richmond and 6 CCN services to Blacktown
	T9	services to Hornsby via Strathfield	[10]
	CCN	6 Morning peak NSW TrainLink services to Blacktown via Central	[11]
2	T1	terminating services, returning to Richmond and Penrith	[12]
3	T1	peak hour services and weekend terminating services, returning to Penrith	[12]
4	T1	services to Chatswood, Gordon, Hornsby & Berowra	6 Evening peak NSW TrainLink services to Wyong[13][14]
	T9	services to Gordon	[10]
	CCN	6 Evening peak services to Gosford & Wyong via Gordon & Hornsby	[11]

References

1. NSW Train Stations Barrier Dashboard 2004-2018 Institute for Sustainable futures UTS
2. North Sydney Station NSWrail.net
3. "Peninsula Railway Dead-End" Railway Digest January 1986 page 15
4. "20 Years Ago" Railway Digest April 1988 page 150
5. "20 Years Ago" Railway Digest December 1992 page 282
6. "North Sydney Underground" Railway Digest February 1985 page 43
7. Upgrade project profile Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation
8. "North Sydney" Railway Digest November 1992 page 434
9. "Milsons Point - Waverton" Railway Digest November 1993 page 495
10. "T9: Northern line timetable". Transport for NSW.
11. "Central Coast & Newcastle line timetable". Transport for NSW.
12. "T1: Western line timetable". Transport for NSW.
13. "T1: North Shore line timetable". Transport for NSW.
14. "Central Coast & Newcastle line timetable". Transport for NSW.

External links

• Media related to North Sydney railway station at Wikimedia Commons
• North Sydney station details Transport for New South Wales
• North Sydney Station Public Transport Map Transport for NSW
• Upgrade works Flickr gallery